Limited to just 12 copies, one for each astronaut who walked on the Moon, the Lunar Rock Edition of Norman Mailer’s MoonFire is designed by Marc Newson. Each book is contained in a case inspired by the Apollo 11 LEM (Lunar Excursion Module)—its surface an actual 3-D topography of the Moon—and comes with a unique piece of lunar meteorite. Accompanying this edition is a glistening chunk of Feldspathic Regolith Breccia, discovered in the Omani Desert after crashing to Earth hundreds if not thousands of years ago.

“MoonFire is the greatest book I have ever seen. The photography is unparalleled, it is more than just a book, it is an experience.” —David Schonauer, American Photo, New York

Limited to just 12 copies, numbered 1,958–1,969, the Lunar Rock Edition of Norman Mailer’s MoonFire is designed by Marc Newson. His concept was inspired by the Apollo 11 LEM (Lunar Excursion Module). Each book is contained in a case made from a single piece of aluminum—its surface an actual 3-D topography of the Moon—and comes with a unique piece of lunar rock.

Meteorites from the Moon are exceptionally rare. There are fewer than 70 lunar meteorites known with a total combined weight of approximately 55 kilograms, making them millions of times rarer than gem grade diamonds. However, most lunar meteorites reside in museum collections and research institutions, leaving only 15 kilograms or so available to individual collectors worldwide. Since acquiring an Apollo moon rock is virtually impossible, the only realistic way to own a piece of the moon is by acquiring a lunar meteorite.

At 10:30 in the morning on January 4, 2008, in the Dhofar Desert region of Oman, meteorite hunter Michael Farmer found what is now acknowledged by scientists to be the 57th distinct lunar meteorite known to exist. This specimen offered is an end piece and the first main mass to be offered to the public. The cut face of this meteorite exhibits a character of the finest brecciated Moon rocks: the obverse reveals dozens of white onorthositic inclusions in a dark olivine-rich matrix. The reverse is covered with fusion crust glazed by a natural desert varnish—the result of sitting in the Omani Desert for hundreds if not thousands of years. This specimen is from the Macovich Collection of Meteorites—one of the most acclaimed private meteorite collections in the world. The Smithsonian,The Academy of Sciences in Moscow, The Natural History Museum (London), the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris) and the American Museum of Natural History (New York) all have specimens with a Macovich provenance.

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To order one of the remaining copies, please contact our Customer Care Team at collectors@taschen.com to let us know your first and second choice. We’ll try to accommodate your wishes as best we can.

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